Unless you've been living in a cave for the past two days or are allergic to heavy metal, you've probably noticed that the founding fathers of metal itself played their final ever show on Saturday night.
Backed by some of the biggest and most respect bands in the game, Black Sabbath bowed out in spectacular style at the Back To The Beginning event at Villa Park in Birmingham, just down the road from where Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward grew up and formed a band that'd change the world.
Now that the dust has settled, my voice is almost back to normal and my eyes have finally dried out, I've picked out some of the moments that stood out the most across what was one of the most impressive and emotionally-loaded live shows I've ever attended. (And if you want a fuller rundown of the whole day as it happened, jump over to Rich Hobson's mega-review.)
The vibes being relentlessly immaculate
Yeah yeah alright it's a wishy-washy cliché, but from the hours before the doors of Villa Park even opened where thousands of black-clad Sabbath fans were lining the streets of Aston, to the final, tear-jerking moments of Sabbath's final ever set (more on that in a second), the atmosphere was unlike anything I've witnessed in 25 years of going to metal shows.
And I suspect there'll never be anything like it again. You just cannot beat a heavy metal crowd, and this was theeee ultimate heavy metal crowd.
Lzzy Hale wiping the floor with just about everyone else
First of all: thank you to whoever in the Halestorm camp thought of covering 90s Ozzy banger Perry Mason. It's an absolute classic and it always annoyed me when Zakk Wylde would tease it at Ozzy shows in recent years without ever playing the full thing. And lord, did they do it justice.
More so, though, in a sea of great performances (and a couple of dodgy ones - sorry Axl), Lzzy's vocals simply wiped the floor with just about everyone else who stepped out on stage that day. The best rock 'n' roll singer of her generation, without a doubt. No wonder she was asked back on less than an hour later to smash through another excellent Ozzy deep cut, The Ultimate Sin.
Lamb Of God dropping the best Sabbath cover of the day
I mean, they're one of the most incendiary live bands in modern metal, so I shouldn't be surprised that Lamb Of God smashed it, but when you're turning up, dropping Set To Fail and Redneck back to back and sparking the first mosh pits of the day, you deserve an extra shout-out.
Plus, their savagely heavy cover of Children Of The Grave was, for my money, the best Sabbath cover of the day, and I'm glad they've actually released it since.
Yungblud making the most new fans of the weekend
Compared to the roars that greeted some of the metal icons we got to see that day, Yungblud's reception was polite at best as he strolled out on stage to front the final part of the first supergroup jam. It's understandable: no one can deny Dominic Harrison's talent or creativity, but despite being chums with Ozzy himself, he's more of an emo hero than a metal god.
Anyone voicing any cynicism about his appearance were forced to immediately gobble their words back down, however, when Doncaster's favourite misfit belted out a heartstring-pulling version of Sabbath ballad Changes, pushing the crowd into the first major, stadium-wide singalong of the day. Top lad.
People probably still queuing for beers right now
Having a full football pitch of people plus the 40,000 seated capacity of Villa Park required to use the same food and toilet facilities meant that everyone had to time their toilet breaks and beer/food runs carefully, because those queues got brutal. I had to miss Gojira's set to make sure I got some chips in before supplies ran low.
I regret nothing, they were delicious, but I was still sad to miss what sounded like a pulverising set of extreme metal ragers. And spare a thought for my mate Hayley who spent an hour queuing in the concourse to get us beers before realising there was a dedicated, mostly queue-free bar at the back of the standing area. Pain.
Jack Black getting the biggest laughs of the day without even being there
The confusion that greeted the on-screen appearance of an actual child hammering out the keyboard intro to Mr Crowley gave way to peals of laughter and cheers when everyone realised said child was accompanied by Jack Black.
It's a shame we couldn't have got Black's brilliantly silly cover of an Ozzy classic in the flesh, but it was still a fun highlight and a genuine surprise, even in a day full of them.
Slayer shutting up the cynics by being that damn good
Yes, it's cheeky as fuck getting back together for a few more shows only six years after you broke up 'for good', but Kerry King has made no secret of the fact he wasn't happy about Slayer retiring, and given how good they looked and sounded on Saturday, all is easily forgiven - a sentiment seemingly shared by the people making up more than half a dozen circle pits erupting around the crowd.
Although I will admit, hearing Kerry bust out the merry, bouncy opening notes of Sabbath's Wicked World made me belly laugh - I'd have presumed they'd have gone for a hard and fast cover of one of Sabbath's heavier cuts, but it was a welcome surprise.
Metallica doing the most Metallica thing ever
Be it playing a gig in Antarctica, organising their own festival or financing their own film, Metallica never take the easy road, and probably pulled out the most surprising cover of the whole day by offering their take on Sabbath deep cut Johnny Blade, taken from the Sabbs' largely panned 1978 album, Never Say Die!.
It's all the more surprising because they had a ready-made Sabbath medley right there on 1998 cover album Garage Inc - Sabbra Cadabra - which is one of my favourite metal covers ever and I'm not remotely bitter about them not playing here. Not at all. Nope. (To be fair, their version of Johnny Blade sounded badass, as did their earlier cover of Hole In The Sky, so I forgive them).
A fragile but determined Ozzy tearing up on stage hitting everyone squarely in the feels
Seeing Ozzy look genuinely thankful as tears filled his eyes during an emotional Mama I'm Coming Home is an image that will stay burned into my metalhead brain forever. The love on stage and off it for the legacy and influence of Black Sabbath throughout the day was brilliant, but it undoubtedly peaked during that final hour or so.
Did his voice crack? Yeah, but so did mine! So what? This was about celebrating a metal institution, and from front to back, it achieved that and then some. Long live Black Sabbath. Long live Ozzy. Oh god, I'm going again, someone grab me a tissue...
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